Hunter–gatherer

2.1: Why did hunter-gatherer societies switch to sedentary agriculture? The transition of hunter-gathering groups to sedentary agriculture initially began due to the simplicity behind agriculture and animal husbandry. The process of growing crops proved to be a much more reliable method of obtaining food than foraging. Similarly, the domestication of certain animal species provided a wealth of byproducts in addition to the meat obtained by slaughtering the animal. I agree with Robbins that many hunter-gathering tribes saw the more relaxed lifestyle they would gain through practicing sedentary agriculture. Before these practices were adopted, taking down large game required a great amount of skill and patience (especially in cases where hand…

A particular quote which would be unfair not to mention: “A hundred malnourished farmers can out fight one healthy hunter” (Diamond, 1999) should not be overlooked as a mere analogy. For it serves as much as an explanation and as a tool to put into perspective why many hunter-gatherers ceased their lifestyle after the ice age concluded. His analysis of the disadvantages of agriculture is not only validated by present day examples such as the Bushmen of the Kalahari, or Hadza in Tanzania, but…

pay you $100 to give up your current lifestyle and return to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, would you do it? What about for $1,000? Would you still do it for no money at all, but with the knowledge that it would give you a better life? I would. My family would think me to be crazy. In fact, most Americans and Europeans would think that I was crazy, too. As stated in the passage Agriculture, for Better and Worse by Jared Diamond, they would think that I was crazy because “most people in modern…

opposite. He suggests that the human race’s transition from bands of hunter-gatherers to societies based on farming was a terrible error, and one that we have yet to recover from. He bases his argument on two major claims. [...] The first is that the diets of the young farming societies were worse than those of the hunter-gatherers, thus leading to less healthy, and therefore lower quality, lives. Furthermore, Diamond posits that the various inequities in our society, such as sexual and…

things. Another way would be to increase food productivity by farming more efficiently. Better preparation of the soil would help increase the yield of a crop, and deeper digging and turning of the soil is part of soil improvement. The digging stick developed into a hoe with a cutting edge, and the hoe evolved into a plough, which dug a deeper and continuous furrow. Even a simple plough was nearly impossible for one person to manage. Working a plough required two people, one to pull, and one to…

When an elderly Eskimo man was asked how he would summarize his life in a few words he stated “Willow smoke and dogs’ tails; when we camp it is all willow smoke and when we move all you see is dogs’ tails wagging in front of you. Eskimo life is half of each.” This article by Lewis R. Binford focuses on the hunter-gatherer system of a mobile man pursing food, shelter and satisfaction. The author starts off the article by quoting the words of an Eskimo man who which Binford a life that has now…

What are hunter-gatherers? What is a band? Who are the Ache? Well, to answer these questions we must go back to the 17th century. Jesuit historians first mentioned this group we now know as the Ache at this time in history, describing them as “…living just like animals” (Hill 1996 par 5). The ache lived in bands, which are small groups consisting of mainly family members, in the region of Paraguay. Their total population is around 1500, speaking their own language which is of the Tupí-Guaraní…